


Different

by Isolatedwriting



Category: DCU, Harley Quinn (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: F/F, Kite man is mentioned, briefly, but its more about pining if you know what I mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23758852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isolatedwriting/pseuds/Isolatedwriting
Summary: Ivy had been so closed off for the last few months, before she, well, died. All because she had been dating this... D-lister. Some wanabee. Harley couldn’t wrap her head around it, and Ivy didn’t seem to want to explain any more than Harley truly wanted to hear it.OrHarley is pining but Ivy is still with Kite Man. Wrote this before 2x03
Relationships: Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel
Comments: 8
Kudos: 228





	Different

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing these two! Hope it's decent, Harlivy needs content, so I wrote my own!
> 
> I wanted to play with their dymanic on the show, since it is a switch from usual. Enjoy!

Harley could hear the hairdryer in the next room, and it infuriated her. Ivy was doing her hair. She never did her hair. It was beautiful on its own. All thick and soft, and she would let Harley drag her fingers through it when they watched TV. 

She had told her as much, how it was beautiful. And Ivy had always blushed and told her off, but would leave her hair how it was.

But now Ivy was in the bedroom, getting ready for her date with fucking Kite Man, of all people, and all Harley could focus on was that sound. 

Ivy had been so closed off for the last few months, before she, well, died. All because she had been dating this... D-lister. Some wanabee. Harley couldn’t wrap her head around it, and Ivy didn’t seem to want to explain any more than Harley truly wanted to hear it. 

A full body shiver ran down her spine, one that had nothing to do with the drafty mall. Things had gotten better since Ivy had ‘come out’ and seemingly moved past the embarrassment on her own. But she kept her relationship with the Kite to herself, and Harley found, for the first time, what it was like to compete for Ivy’s time.

It wasn’t a feeling she enjoyed. 

It was 8.35. Ivy was meeting him in ten minutes on the roof. She glanced up at the skylight, as if he had already crashed like some seagull on the glass. Sadly not. 

Harley rested her head on her fist. She’d been scrolling her phone, trying to distract herself since she had been ditched when it came time to get ready. Ivy would come down again any minute, looking gorgeous, and would take off into the night, and it wasn’t sitting right with Harley. 

The feeling in her belly, that sat like hunger but stung like something even more familiar, was starting to make her feel queasy. 

Things between them were good. Ivy was alive, Joker was gone, the gang was all back together, and Harley wasn’t happy. Because Kite Man was annoying and brought down her good vibes. Of course. 

Ivy was done upstairs, beginning her journey back down again by the sounds of it. Harley sucked in a quick breath before she turned to face her.

And she was beautiful. 

Like Harley knew she would be.

To go out and see him.

It was like a punch in the gut and a shock to the head just to smile at her, but smile she did. She launched towards her for a hug, and Ivy laughed at her, holding her around the waist in such a way that sent a shot of energy flowing through Harley’s body. She was so close; Harley could feel the odd heat of her through their clothes. 

“-so I’m not sure I’ll be back tonight, but there’s loads of food here, I mean we are in a mall.” Ivy was speaking to her, but Harley only caught the end of it. 

Suddenly, the energy and heat and anxiety building up in Harley’s chest just spewed out. “How long do you think this thing will go on for, Ives?” Her voice was high (as usual), but there was an edge that she hadn’t expected herself, even as she spoke.

“What? Living in squalor in an abandoned building? I think this is gonna be it for a while, you heard what happened to the real estate market. You know, when Gotham city was destroyed? It’s just not the time to invest.”

Harley felt her laugh and pull away, but kept herself firm, standing straight to face her friend.

“No! I mean you and the Kite! It’s been weeks, I didn’t think...” she trailed off when Ivy’s eyes went hard, but powered through, her mind whirring like a busted engine. “Well I just didn’t think he was your type, that’s all.” It wasn’t all. Not even close, but Harley didn’t have the words for anything further.

Ivy sighed, loosened, and shrugged, and Harley knew she was getting somewhere for once. “He’s not, really but... I don’t know, it works. It’s fine, for now at least. He’s fun. He makes me smile. That’s more than most men I know.”

She was trying to keep the mood light, Harley could tell. She could read her now; they had lived together for so long she could tell what Ivy was thinking by a quirk of her eyebrow. Right now, Ivy wanted her to drop the subject, but that horrible feeling that had been bristling under her skin all night was getting worse, and Harley felt restless from the feeling of Ivy’s hands on her.

“C’mon, you know you can do better than him.”

“Maybe, but I’m happy, Harl. Can you please leave it?”

There was a thud from above, and Harley cringed. Ivy was watching her, confused, but quickly looked up to smile and greet her boyfriend with a yell that felt too loud. Harley followed her gaze, hoping to see the smush she had been thinking of before, but alas Kite Man looked only the normal amount of banged up, and was awkwardly trying to open a window to let himself in. 

Ivy finally looked to her again, picking up her bag. “I’ll see you later.” She said, and she reached forward to lay a hand on Harley’s forearm. “We’ll do something tomorrow.” She was trying to placate her, and the gesture didn’t go unnoticed, but as Harley watched Kite Man swoop down and scoop up her best friend, heard her laughing as they flew off together, she just felt shitty again. 

She stood for a moment, feeling cold in her usual shorts and crop top.

Ever since Ivy came back, Harley had been particularly clingy with her friend, and she knew it.

Ivy seemed to get it though. She gave in to most of Harley’s demands for movie nights, she even let her sleep in her bed when she got too riled up, but if anything Harley was getting even more restless. She remembered what it was like to lose Ivy, for real this time. Not because they had a fight, or she was off with Joker and Ivy didn’t like that, but because she died. Harley had lived in a world where Ivy was dead, where she never expected to see her again, and it tore her up.  
Harley had never been alone like that. Ivy was always there. 

That was still the case, thanks to Ivy’s miraculous healing power, but Harley still felt that time without her. She felt the way her heart had shattered when that spear had pierced through Ivy’s chest, tearing her insides apart, how the colours of the world faded away to just Ivy, and how suddenly everything clicked into place. 

Of course, Ivy was still with Kite Man. He’d basically fallen into her arms sobbing at the sight of her, risen, just as Harley had found she’d forgotten all about him, in the thrill of seeing Ivy again. And a whole new problem had popped into being.

Harley felt like shit, and went diving into the remaining junk food they had, forgoing the rationing that the boys had just begun to take seriously. Because fuck rationing, Gotham was in flames, and Harley was in love with her best friend, who wasn’t looking at her anymore.

\--------

Ivy came back around midnight, coming in quietly, avoiding waking Bud and Lou by the skin of her teeth, only to walk straight into their owner. Harley looked tired, like she had watched too much TV, though that couldn’t be the case. Harley barely managed to get through half an episode of Bane’s new quiz show without smashing up the screen. 

“Harl,” Ivy was startled, but not surprised. “You okay?”

Harley just rolled her eyes, but flopped down on the couches, gesturing awkwardly with her arms for Ivy to join her. “I’ve been binging.”

“Chips or tequila?”

“Both.”

Ivy believed her. She tugged up Harley’s legs, setting them down on her lap once she sat. 

“Didn’t think you were coming home tonight.” Harley’s statement was quiet, but stubborn. Familiar. 

“Neither did I. But here we are.” Ivy ran her hands along Harley’s legs, unknowingly sending a thrill through her body. Ivy took a long breath. “Do you want to talk?”

Harley did want to talk. She wanted to spill her guts to Ivy and beg for her affections. The self hating part of her (a pretty loud part at the moment), told her to hold it. She knew Ivy had a soft spot for her. She had exploited it for years, in one way or another. She felt like an ass now, because this was her problem. Ivy never dated, but now that she was, Harley has her epiphany, and it wasn’t fair. She was always making life difficult for Ivy. Always coming to her for help.  
Ivy always did anything she could for her. She didn’t deserve someone like Ivy. 

Neither did Kite Man though, and that was what got her. She felt the frustration building, and with the courage granted only through alcohol, she tossed her thoughts aside. 

“Can I ask about Kite Man again?”

Ivy groaned, a low and annoyed noise, but sounded her consent. 

“Is he like… well hung?”

“I’m not taking to you about that Harley.”

“But why? You always tell me about the people you date, why is this different? You never want to talk to me about him, I just wanna get it, that’s all.”

Harley pulled her head up to watch her friend reacting to her. Ivy’s eyes were closed, like she was sorting through her words. 

Seconds ticked by, and just as Harley felt nerves trickling back in, Ivy cleared her throat.

“Do you have some sort of problem with him?” she asked, and Harley let her head fall back against the couch cushions again.

“Oh, not really. I mean he’s pathetic, but-“

“Harley.”

“But,” Harley repeated. “You’re also out of his league! He doesn’t even have his own apartment!”

“Neither do you!” Ivy snapped back. Harley regarded her for a moment, but conceded.

“I have my own crew, and took down the Joker, does that not give me some extra points?” 

Ivy smiled at her, her guard down again. Harley melted at the sight. The building was only lit by moonlight streaming down onto the main lounge area, and she looked like she glowed under it. Her hair was a little messier after flying, and her lipstick had faded away, and Harley never wanted to let her out of her sight.  
Harley, feeling a little bold, pushed her weight onto one arm so she could rest her other hand on top of Ivy’s on her legs. “I just think you can do better, Ives.” 

Ivy scoffed, but didn’t knock her off. “Okay.” She said, after a moment, and Harley tightened her grip on her hands. 

Harley felt, if she was being honest, sweaty. She really wished she had prepared more for Ivy to come home, but had expected a quiet night of eating until she passed out. She didn’t plan to be sitting in front of Ivy with her heart pounding. She wondered if Ivy could feel the way she was reacting. She always sensed things like that. There was a fern very nearby that was making Harley extremely nervous, and her eyes darted to it for a moment, a silent threat to stop it from ratting her out.  
“So why did you come home?”

Harley broke the quiet, the thought hitting her and slipping out of her mouth immediately. 

Ivy started, but shrugged, relaxing back into the couch.  
“I wasn’t in the mood for a sleep over, I guess. As much as I defend it, him having a roommate kinda sucks ass.” Ivy was fidgeting now, her fingers twirling together under Harley’s.

Harley barked out a laugh, one of her hyenas echoing her, distantly. “That’s fair, how did he take it?” She wasn’t trying to bring him up, it just came out.

“He was fine.” She replied. “Listen, Harley...” she started and Harley’s heart stopped. “I know things have been weird with us about him, but I’m figuring some stuff out. Right now, he makes me happy. And I don’t know if that will last, but for now.” She shrugged again. It was late, and she had had a few glasses of wine with dinner. 

She was telling the truth. Mostly. She did have fun with Kite Man. He treated her like a person. The way Harley did. Not many people did treat her that way. She understood; she was green, usually poisonous, and not particularly friendly. She didn’t want people in her life, they usually just ended up there by accident, and found a place to exist in her space. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t perfect either. 

Harley looked at her with clear eyes. She digested her alcohol quickly, a minor hiccup from her odd physical make up, and was clearly clinging to her every word. Ivy never knew how to feel about Harley when she did that nowadays.

A few months ago? She would have been excited, maybe even might have flirted a little with her best friend, seen how far she could take it before Harley tapped out, but now she was torn. A part of her (the part that still had some reason behind it) knew that she was with someone now. The usual dynamic was off.  
Granted, it had been off for a while. Since Harley left Him. Or, more realistically, when she had gotten over him anyway. That ‘we’re both single now’ tension  
But Harley was in a weird place. Ivy knew how hard she clung to her in her sleep sometimes, saw the nightmares and the panicked looks Harley tried to hide. It wasn’t strange, she had always been skittish, but it was more common since the Joker had vanished, and Ivy needed to get to the bottom of it before she allowed herself to even entertain the idea of thinking of Harley in that capacity. 

Harley pulled herself up so she could face her head on, too close, but Harley had never been one for personal space. 

“I just,” Harley started. “I just want to go back to normal.”

Ivy almost laughed at her, but kept it to a snort. “Normal is you in a Jester suit, and I don’t think you want that.” 

Harley’s eyes grew wide, and she shook her head quick, her thoughts jumbled and erratic. “No, but... sometimes I wish it was like ol’ times, you know? Just me and you, against the world.”

“And Frank.”

“Of course.” Harley said, but her tone didn’t waver. “But you know what I mean, right?”

Ivy sighed, but she did. Harley thieved on attention, crooned under it. It was part of how Joker could assert his control over her, after all. “I’m sorry, Harls. I don’t want this coming between us.”

“Neither do I!” Harley was quick to respond. “I just miss you. Us, havin’ capers and all.”

“Next caper, it’s just you and me.” Ivy put her hand on her heart, almost on automatic. 

There was a beat of silence where Ivy regarded her companion for a moment. 

Harley had been especially... Harley the last while. Considering the city was already in ruin, she had been especially excited to destroy the remains. She was out most nights, with her gang or the hyenas, creating havoc and coming back singing. If anything, she had been avoiding Ivy, not the other way around. 

“You just seem to be doing your own thing, I... didn’t know you were upset.” There was a trickle of sarcasm in her voice, a little more than to be teasing, but not quite enough to be cruel. Harley, who was still so close to Ivy’s face she could count her lashes, just shrugged, looking almost bashful for a moment, if such an expression could exist on that face. Still, she didn’t break their eye contact, searching Ivy for something she wasn’t sure how to make apparent in her expression. 

“I’m not upset! Just.. feeling weird.”

Ivy did laugh at her that time. “Weird?” She asked, just as Harley leaned down on the back rest, her head barely inches from Ivy’s. Ivy felt her eyes on her even as she looked down at lap. Harley’s bleached legs were a stark contrast against her own green skin, and she traced a gentle pattern along them, habitually. Harley made a scoffing sound, but allowed it. 

The thing was, Harley didn’t want to explain more. Her words felt jumbled and wrong, like she was never going to be able to use them right. 

“I just don’t like it.” She finally settled on, closing her eyes after a beat. She felt exhausted all of a sudden.

“So... you don’t like him?”

“Whatever.”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “You sound jealous, Harley, and it’s not a good look.”

“And if I am?” Harley, again, found the words out in the open before she had thought them through, muttered out into the air without her usual confidence. She felt her chest constrict and freeze. 

Ivy’s hands stilled on her legs for a moment, before resuming again. Ivy wasn’t good with people (in her own words), and took her time replying. The seconds ticked by like molasses down steps.

Finally, she spoke. 

“Well, are you?”

Harley was. But she felt vulnerable already, and having Ivy’s eyes on her was making her skin redden slightly.  
So, she shrugged, opening her eyes with a joke on the tip of her tongue, before she saw Ivy, looking back at her, and everything stopped again. Her heart, on the other hand, jackhammered hard against her ribs. 

Ivy was having a similar problem, and Kite Man had never been so far from her mind. She felt Harley’s legs tense up under her fingers as she propelled herself up again, further away than before, but keeping their faces close. Even Harley knew when it was too much, when she might be pushing too many buttons to keep everything working smoothly. Ivy wished her friend hadn’t learned so many boundaries this past year. With her at least. 

Still, she wasn’t sure what she wanted. Or how Harley felt for that matter. Harley had always looked at her with some level of respect, but now things were so different, she never knew where to stand with Harley anymore. What was crossing a silent line between them, and what was still platonic. 

Usually Harley didn’t have that problem. She climbed onto Ivy’s lap with little thought of anyone around them, more often than she herself would be willing to admit. Lately was no different, except for that little flash. The moment Ivy would look at her, squirming for attention from across a room, or half asleep on the couch, and Harley’s gaze would be locked on her, no matter who or what else was in the room, and that profoundly different feeling would come over her again. Somehow, that feeling won out over reason. 

“You are, aren’t you?” she asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice, that she attempted to mask as confidence. “Jealous?”

Harley looked at her, and opened her mouth to speak, but it just kind of hung there, as she stared slack jawed and stunned. Ivy began to fidget, and Harley tore herself out of her brain boil to grab hold of Ivy’s hands, stilling her fingers immediately as Ivy froze. She felt like she couldn’t move, even as Harley gave her a weak smile and tightened her grip on her hands. 

There was something to be said of Harley and her words. She was someone who knew how to talk, almost too well if you asked half the people of Gotham. But sometimes, even she didn’t need them. Harley closed the distance quickly between them and kissed her. 

The spell holding Ivy in place was broken, and her hands broke apart to tangle themselves around Harley’s head as she responded, pressing against her friend without a thought of consequences. Harley’s limbs twisted and twirled until she was straddling Ivy, her hands in her hair and kissing her like she had nothing to lose. She felt a groan tear itself from her throat, grinding down against Ivy’s front as she tried to get her jacket off. She wanted to feel more skin against her own, and Ivy always wore too many clothes anyway. 

Harley successfully (blindly) pulled Ivy’s jacket down her arms, leaving the rest to Ivy to figure out, and set her sights on her neck, newly exposed without difficulty. Ivy moaned, a deep and beautiful sound that had Harley inwardly on her knees. It was like a dam had broken and suddenly Harley’s self-control had all but snapped apart and all she wanted was more. 

“Yes,” she gasped out, her lips still ghosting Ivy’s pulse point, finally answering her earlier question. “I was really jealous.” She recaptured Ivy’s lips in a bruising kiss, heavy and languid in its intensity, until Harley felt Ivy’s hands on her shoulders, pushing her back so she was sat on her haunches in her lap. Harley felt herself sigh at the loss, but dropped her hands from Ivy, only for them to find themselves resting against her hips, caressing green where her top had ridden up. 

“Ives?” she asked, a sudden feeling of dread in her throat, but Ivy hushed her quickly. Harley noticed she was still holding her, tightly around the waist, and felt at ease. 

“I’m with someone, Harls.” She said it as a statement, and Harley almost deflated. The fact that he got to her before Harley got her head in order. The thing she had spent so long thinking about when Ivy was out on her dates. But Ivy’s hold on her was firm, unwavering, and Harley didn’t allow herself to spiral.

Ivy’s tone took on a serious note. “What do you want from this?” Again, Harley could sense the unease in her voice. Ivy was nervous, scared of how Harley would react. As if Harley would laugh in her face about having fun together and they would go back to watching TV without another thought. Harley could only think of one thing, and it was far from friendship. 

“You, I want you.” Harley was quick to respond, leaning forward, not to kiss her again, but to ease into Ivy’s space, eager to be nearer to her. Emotions flew through Ivy's eyes faster than Harley could keep up. 

“Then I’ll be single tomorrow.” Ivy was grinning, her grip tightening ever so slightly on Harley’s waist, just before she pushed her off onto the couch again. Harley fell with a yelp, but scrambled up back onto her knees smiling anyway. 

“Really?” She asked, with the excitement of a squeal under the word. 

Ivy leaned on her side to face her, and nodded. Her lips were slightly kiss swollen, and it made Harley swoon to think she had done such a thing. A gentle reminder than she had just kissed Poison Ivy, and would live to tell the tale. Maybe she would get lucky, and would get to kiss her more. Tomorrow, even. She buzzed with the thought. 

“Yeah.” Ivy replied, a dreamy look in her eyes. She didn’t look forward to the idea, exactly. Kite Man was lovely, and hopefully would stick around. But sitting there, tasting Harley’s awful tequila on her lips, it was the farthest thing from a priority. 

She could tell Harley wanted to kiss her again. She had leaned, ever so subtle, into her space again. Ivy felt the satisfaction under the thrill of it all, but tore herself up from the couch still. 

“Tomorrow.” She said. Final and sincere, so that Harley would not take offense. Ivy wanted their next meeting in the open, on the same terms, all cards on the table. Both, officially, single. 

Harley wilted back into the couch, but wasn’t upset. She could be patient. She had been this far anyway; she was willing to try for another night. 

Still, tomorrow afternoon couldn’t come soon enough.


End file.
